Jake Hager is not making excuses for how he handled the collapse of his marriage to Catalina White.
The former WWE star spoke openly on Advice Unfiltered about the destructive choices he made after the divorce, admitting he drank too much and tried to hide from what he was actually feeling.
Hager married White in December 2010 after the two met through WWE’s developmental system. White performed in FCW under the name Saylor James. They had two children before their marriage ended around 2023.
Hager said the divorce destroyed the family structure he knew, forced the sale of their million-dollar home and left him blaming himself for everything that had gone wrong. When asked whether the work required to recover was easy, he did not hesitate. Hager then admitted alcohol became one of the ways he avoided confronting the real source of his pain.
“No. No, and I definitely didn’t make the right choices to get through it.”
“I was drinking too much, f*cking hiding from myself, to not even face the fact of, ‘What am I really upset about?’”
The former WWE World Heavyweight Champion said he can now look back and recognize the behavior and thought patterns that kept him stuck. Hager said there was no magic escape from the situation. His answer was to keep moving, take responsibility and stop treating himself like a victim.
“I feel like I’ve got there now, and I feel so much better about it. I can look back and understand, like, ‘Hey, this is what you were doing, and you were doing this wrong. This is the way you were thinking. Don’t think like that.’”
“You always have to keep going. Always look up and never f*cking stop, because we don’t have a fucking choice.”
When the hosts asked whether all the painful work had been worth it, Hager gave a direct answer, “Hard work always pays off. It’s always worth it.” Hager’s admission is rough because he did not blame the wrestling business, his ex-wife or anyone else for how he responded. He admitted he drank too much, hid from the problem and had to tear apart his own thinking before his life could start moving forward again.
What do you make of Jake Hager admitting that he used alcohol to hide from the pain of his divorce? Let us know your thoughts and leave your feedback in the comments.
